Raj Singh seated against a large bolster on floral cream ground rug wearing a cream floral decorated jama with his legs crossed in a relaxed manner with his sword resting in his lap, wearing an elaborated turban ornamented with bands of jewels and a sarpech with a black feather crest. Opposite is Fateh Singh wearing a yellow floral pattern jama and simple turban with a ruby ornament on the front, he kneels partially on the rug, and an elder attendant holding a morchal is rendered with a stern expression above Raj Singh. The group is set on an open terrance before a solid field of green extending to a high arched horizon and a sky with red and white clouds at the corners and streaks of gold along the rim.Image: 11 ¼ x 9 in. (28.6 x 22.3 cm), folio: 13 x 10 ½ in. (33 x 26.1 cm)

Footnotes

The delicate shading of the faces, the shape of the eyes, and sumptuous treatment of the textiles are hallmarks of the artist Nihal Chand. Although there are many elements shared with Dalchand's work at Kishangarh (see Navina Haider, Masters of Indian Painting II, Zurich, 2011, n figs. 11, 14, and 21, especially the compositions and treatment of the background. His treatment of the eye and jaw-line appears to flat by comparison.

A closely related double portrait attributed to Nihal Chand of Sardar Singh and his father seated in a almost identical format is in Cincinnati Museum of Art, illustrated and discuss by Navina Haider in Masters of Indian Painting II, Zurich, 2011, fig. 9, pp. 603-605. Also see Rosemary Crill, ed., The Indian Portrait: 1560-1860, London, 2010, no. 39, where the carpet, cushions, pan tray and flowers above the railing are very similar. Also compare with an equestrian portrait of Fateh Singh in Indian Paintings and Manuscripts, Sam Fogg exhibition catalogue 21, 1999, no. 46.

Provenance:Private Collection, Buffalo, New YorkAcquired from Walter Prochownik in 1985

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